Grid-Scale Renewables

Renewable energy is an essential building block of the clean energy future.

Enabling the Renewable Energy Future

Around the world, renewable energy is enjoying record growth, thanks in equal parts to its rapidly dropping costs and to the growing commitments of governments to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. While energy-generating technologies such as solar, wind, hydropower, and other renewables are well-understood, the issues surrounding their integration into the grid are deeply complex—and vary not only from country to country, but from state to state and even, in some cases, city to city.

Our team has deep understanding of the energy markets in China, India, Europe, and the United States, giving us unique perspectives on the challenges and opportunities facing these regions—and empowering us to identify and adapt best practices to be shared across jurisdictions and continents.

Key Facts

Renewable energy meets as much as 80% of Germany’s electricity demand.
Source

India aims to install 60 GW of wind and 100 GW of solar power capacity by 2022.Source

Our Focus

RAP helps policymakers at the local, state, and national levels develop cost-effective and low-risk solutions to integrating ever-increasing amounts of renewable energy into the grid, while maintaining reliability and affordability. We focus on mechanisms (both market-based and administrative, depending on local conditions) that encourage more resource and operational flexibility in power systems. We also identify how existing, market-proven strategies, such as ice storage for air conditioning and controlled water and wastewater pumping, can be deployed to shift demand patterns and allow for higher levels of renewable energy penetration.

Events

Changes in today’s power system, such as increasing levels of intermittent renewable energy sources, demand response, and electric vehicles, are creating both exciting opportunities and challenges for regulators and system operators. The role of the consumer is also evolving from a passive role to that of an active participant with growing expectations about how and…